/BarTalk/Articles/2021/December/Columns/Im-Not-a-Miracle-Worker-Im-a-Janitor
When my son was doing his economics degree a decade ago at UVic, he regularly badgered me to watch the latest “lawyer movie” he’d just seen. It was Ridley Scott’s “The Counsellor.” The film chronicles a lawyer mixed up with Mexican drug lords, and involves deceit, money, murd...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/October/Features/Pandemic-Practice-Points
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced significant unprecedented challenges to all aspects of our lives. Due to stressors such as individuals losing their jobs, complete disruption of our conventional routines, and restrictions on socializing outside of one’s household, the pan...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/October/Columns/COVID-19-Horse-Dewormers-and-Other-Nonsense
Pete McMartin’s recent column in the Vancouver Sun summed up the zeitgeist of the day. “Enough is enough,” he said. “I’m done with all of the COVID-19 skeptics. I’m done with those whose ignorance of science is so profound and intractable… they put their trust in celebrities,...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/August/Columns/The-Keystone-XL-Cancellation-—-Indigenous-Nations
The Indigenous Nations of Canada have mixed views on the impact of the cancellation of Keystone XL by the Biden administration. US President Joe Biden cancelled the project earlier this year through an executive order, fulfilling one of his many campaign climate protection pl...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/August/Columns/Bring-Out-Your-Dead
I'm aware that consumer genealogy tests like Ancestry and 23AndMe have been used by the police in the US and Europe to solve cold cases by identifying the murderer through the DNA of relatives who used the test. Never having committed a heinous crime, (and not planning to), I...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/August/Columns/A-Mediator’s-Top-10-Tips-for-Counsel
Litigation is frequently resolved through mediation. Just as there are compelling advocates in court, so are there effective counsel in mediations. Here are ten suggestions to help you excel. 1. Timing There is no fixed rule on when to mediate. Parties may be less entrenc...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/June/Columns/No-shirt-No-shoes-No-shot-No-service
By September 1, it’s projected that almost 950,000 Americans and 45,000 Canadians will have died from COVID-19, despite the rollout of vaccines that will lower the rate of transmissibility, sickness, and death. Yet some of the same people who continue to downplay COVID’s seri...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/June/Features/Why-Deal-Mediation
Over the past two decades, mediation has become a frequent process choice across a wide range of practice areas — family, personal injury, estates, commercial, and more. Yet, despite a breadth of experience with the potential value added by mediators, the process is typically...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/April/Columns/I-Am-Not-a-Cat
By the time you read this, every lawyer in the world, (plus a few billion others), will have heard about poor old Ron Ponton, a lawyer in Texas, who was appearing at a hearing on Zoom in front of Judge Roy Ferguson. However, Mr. Ponton wasn’t quite himself that day. On the s...
/BarTalk/Articles/2021/February/Columns/Why-Realtors-are-Smarter-than-Lawyers
A few months ago, I stumbled on an account by a lawyer who performed a standard no-nonsense real estate sale for a property that sold for $1 million. The listing and the selling agents charged and split commissions of 7% on the first $100,000 and 2.5% on the $900,000 balance ...